Oh dear England. Wasn't this team the best to come down in here in 20 years? Well I think we've proven that England are ridiculously overrated, almost as much so as MS Dhoni and Shiad Afridi. It was funny watching the Barmy Army cheering today, but then again they are English so I guess they celebrate mediocrity.

Oh dear England. Wasn't this team the best to come down in here in 20 years? Well I think we've proven that England are ridiculously overrated, almost as much so as MS Dhoni and Shiad Afridi. It was funny watching the Barmy Army cheering today, but then again they are English so I guess they celebrate mediocrity.

This team wasn't the best to go down there in 20 years. It was the best team to go down there in 20 years minus a third of its players. There's a difference.

Sreesanth said, "Next ball he was beaten and I said, 'is this the King Charles Lara? Who is this impostor, moving around nervously? I should have kept my mouth shut for the next ball - mind you, it was a length ball - Lara just pulled it over the church beyond the boundary! He is a true legend."

Vaughan in for Mahmood. Jones can actually bowl straight regardless of the swing so he'd have been a help. Tresco could have come in for Collingwood (who actually did absolutely nothing bar his double century and his 96.) or Bell.

Originally Posted by cpr

3. Although Cow Tipping is a hilarious student game in backwater towns such as Bangor, there really is no need for Mitchell to cover one side of the cow in superglue

Yeah, let's just completely ignore Trescothick, shall we? 'Cause he doesn't have close to 6,000 Test runs or anything.

And if you're going to be pedantic and say that 3/11 isn't a third, then the injuries the other players have had in the last 6 months and subsequent loss of fitness is as good as losing another player.

As inexcusably terrible as they were, the simple fact is that the England side that lost the Ashes 5-0 was nowhere near full-strength. That's not to say the result would have been any different if they had been at full-strength, but the fact they weren't is pretty much the plain truth.

Yeah, let's just completely ignore Trescothick, shall we? 'Cause he doesn't have close to 6,000 Test runs or anything.

And if you're going to be pedantic and say that 3/11 isn't a third, then the injuries the other players have had in the last 6 months and subsequent loss of fitness is as good as losing another player.

As inexcusably terrible as they were, the simple fact is that the England side that lost the Ashes 5-0 was nowhere near full-strength. That's not to say the result would have been any different if they had been at full-strength, but the fact they weren't is pretty much the plain truth.

Tresco? He's a hack these days. Can you honestly tell me it was better for English Cricket for Tresco to be in those 5 Test Matches for Cook?

Vaughan in for Mahmood. Jones can actually bowl straight regardless of the swing so he'd have been a help. Tresco could have come in for Collingwood (who actually did absolutely nothing bar his double century and his 96.) or Bell.

Been a long time but combined with the utterly brilliant delivery the man (Simon Jones) had more than a penchant for the half volley and a bit of legside trite. He was hardly gun barrel straight ala McGrath. Also Tresco wasn't much cop in Australia last time was he?

Tresco? He's a hack these days. Can you honestly tell me it was better for English Cricket for Tresco to be in those 5 Test Matches for Cook?

To be blunt, yes. Cook did next to nothing apart from his hundred at Perth (or was it Adelaide? The defeats are bleeding into one another these days), and given the fact that our biggest opening partnership of the series was something like 54, I don't think you can exactly say that the Strauss-Cook partnership was a success. I would far rather have had Trescothick at the top of the order with Cook at three and Bell at five. And yes, that does mean I'd have dropped Collingwood if Trescothick was fit, that double-hundred is an irrelevance.

Oh dear England. Wasn't this team the best to come down in here in 20 years? Well I think we've proven that England are ridiculously overrated, almost as much so as MS Dhoni and Shiad Afridi. It was funny watching the Barmy Army cheering today, but then again they are English so I guess they celebrate mediocrity.